Sunday, August 30, 2015

All politicians lie. No political affiliation is exempt. Some are fibs and some are whoppers. And Donald Trump doesn't necessarily tell lies of greater magnitude or with more frequency versus other politicians - yet he is a more skilled liar than most of them. This superior ability to deceive is one of the factors which convince some of the electorate that he is more truthful - however he's far from it.

Trump's vocabulary is equivalent to a 3rd-to-4th grader's. This is not hyperbole - for his word usage has been evaluated by linguists. He uses smaller words, shorter sentences and less total words. His pattern of speaking is equivalent to a collection of clichés (very common for most all politicians - but more frequent with Trump). And clichés - even one-word clichés require significantly less mental processing (which is also true of the use of shorter words and shorter sentences). Of profound importance here is cliché frequency - which is directly proportional to the level of INsincerity (more frequent use of clichés indicates greater INsincerity - while less cliché usage equals more sincerity).

Donald Trump's paralanguage (vocal qualities) also have significantly less variety compared to many people. His volume is high and forceful - and his tone of voice is low. The cadence, rhythm and pitch also have very little variation.

Trump also has a strong tendency to emphasize words that are not the most important word in the sentence - e.g. "The", "of", etc. This is a very strong indicator of manipulation and insincerity and is very rarely appreciated. Many politicians and other "leaders" fall into this speech pattern when deception is present.

Donald Trump's body language also fits this same pattern of low diversity. He uses many of the same arm-hand gestures and the same facial expressions - time after time. In addition, as has been discussed in earlier posts, Trump's nonverbal signals are also significantly more hyperbolic - with melodrama and are often disproportionate to his spoke words.

Whenever the communication triad of body language, spoken language and paralanguage - all take on a pattern of low variation - there is an extremely high probability deception is taking place. Moreover - when extreme words/statements are used, with higher volumes and hyper-gesticulated extreme body language - this is also highly consistent with lying. Donald Trump routinely and repetitively fits all six of these patterns (as well as the emphasis of low-importance words). By his chronic use of these displays - which are all correlated with high-adrenaline, he is essentially drowning-out the other signals associated with INsincerity. This over-kill approach is a form of a smokescreen and has both conscious and subconscious components.

This website serves as an objective reference source for the science and art of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc. are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.

Subscribe To Body Language Success

As a Body Language Expert & Physician, I've benefited dramatically from the Art and Science of Nonverbal Communication for more than 20 years.

______________________________

This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.

This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.